King Luther Capital Management Corp Acquires 7,685 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

King Luther Capital Management Corp lifted its position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 225,542 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,685 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in American Tower were worth $52,452,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Balentine LLC bought a new stake in American Tower in the third quarter worth $586,000. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in American Tower by 6.9% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 95,149 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $22,128,000 after purchasing an additional 6,163 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in American Tower by 27.7% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 20,401 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,029,000 after purchasing an additional 4,430 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its holdings in American Tower by 29.0% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 41,284 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,157,000 after purchasing an additional 9,275 shares during the period. Finally, Savvy Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in American Tower by 268.2% during the third quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 4,463 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,038,000 after purchasing an additional 3,251 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

American Tower Price Performance

NYSE:AMT opened at $200.88 on Thursday. American Tower Co. has a 12 month low of $170.46 and a 12 month high of $243.56. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $220.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $211.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The firm has a market cap of $93.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 84.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.84.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by ($1.56). The company had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. American Tower’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.58 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 273.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AMT. StockNews.com lowered American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. TD Cowen raised their price target on American Tower from $226.00 to $239.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on American Tower from $225.00 to $236.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.54.

About American Tower

American Tower, one of the largest global REITs, is a leading independent owner, operator and developer of multitenant communications real estate with a portfolio of over 224,000 communications sites and a highly interconnected footprint of U.S. data center facilities.